Monday, November 19, 2007

cool bugs

Went to an amazing craft fair the other day. Well over 200 hundred booths and this blew me away- not one was for a corporation that I could tell. No signing up with Well's Fargo, no insurance brokers, no cars for sale. It was all art! I never saw anything remotely similar in all my years in California! And the quality was incredible- it was more than crafts, it was craftsmanship. There were only a couple booths that were kind of so-so. So I ran around like a rabid Fizzgig, Sammy Hagar hair bouncing around in the wind. One of the coolest things I saw was a guy making bugs out of metal and stained glass. One will soon be replacing a fish on my wall because there was no way I was leaving without one!Bugs are of course, my number one favourite thing. Fish are a close second, but my true love is bugs. And in honour of bugs I'm posting the site of an awesome artist who does amazing work in Californiawww.patrick-e.com

Also, here's the guy whose work I bought at the craft fair- The site isn't up yet, but I'm hoping it'll be soon. His wife does amazing shirts with her super cool characters embroidered on them. I'll be asking for one for Christmas!www.theloungecollection.com

And here's a pic of one of the bugs I made while having a rare but wonderful art day with Petaluma artist Richard Benbrook. A fabulous artist, poet and crazy-man, one day I'll have one of his pieces in my house too. He sadly doesn't have a website. Oh, actually I'll post a pic of my favourite of his pieces- a jackrabbit. In any case, the bug is just a beetle and he's a candy dish. My first try at carving foam and using this crazy latex-y type stuff.He's going to kill me when he sees I've posted his pic. HA!